When Dr. Sandy Williams became dean of the School of Medicine last year, he left behind his position as chair of cardiology at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. Now, he may be hoping to create a pipeline from Dallas to Durham.
Chris Newgard, the recently appointed director of Duke's Sarah W. Steadman Center for Nutritional Studies, and longtime colleague of Williams, brought 12 members of his Southwestern staff with him to Durham when he came this spring.
Duke established the nutrition center in 1988 to develop and deliver nutritional programs to a range of health care professionals and patients.
Newgard, a professor of pharmacology and cancer biology, wants to use the center as a base for metabolic research--leading to discoveries involving diabetes, obesity and nutrition. He said the center could have much more of a research focus than it has exhibited in the past.
"We want to develop a center of excellence in nutrition research," he said. "[The center] has been a place where research was desired, but has been mostly a clinical [effort]."
As Newgard, Trinity '78, attempts to transform the center into a research hub, he will have in mind four upcoming appointments to fill for the Steadman center and metabolic research projects, including an expert in transcription biology and a stem cell biologist.
Stem cells may be particularly important for treating type I diabetes, Newgard said. Type I diabetes is an autoimmune disease in which the immune system turns against insulin-producing cells in the pancreas and destroys them; people with this type of diabetes must take insulin daily to live. Type II diabetes, which is much more common, develops mostly in adults over age 40 who are overweight. In type II diabetes, the pancreas usually produces enough insulin, but the body cannot use the insulin effectively.
Pancreas cells for transplant are in short supply, and the immune system often attacks them because they are foreign. He said that although researchers have progressed toward finding genes that may prevent rejection, they still have work to do learning the nuts-and-bolts of how insulin-producing cells work.
Newgard, who is in the process of moving from Dallas, said that when Williams came to Duke last summer, it was a great opportunity for him as well. Newgard was recruited last summer and officially took the position March 1. He and Williams wrote joint grant proposals covering diabetes and cardiology research when they both worked at Southwestern.
"With Chris at the helm to guide research and recruitment, we can truly enhance the level of work already being done at Duke," Williams said.
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